Dean Smith

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, hippo said:

Ultimately it comes down to winning matches - if he doesn't win enough he gets the push ....laying foundations won't cut it... 

Norwich had same issue last year with Farke. Bet some Norwich fans look stupid now

[hippo]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

Norwich had same issue last year with Farke. Bet some Norwich fans look stupid now

......and leeds did with Heckinbottom.... 

[Zatman]

4 minutes ago, hippo said:

......and leeds did with Heckinbottom.... 

Heckinbottom laid the groundwork for some of Leeds success this season, he integrated so many kids that are in the squad at the moment 

 

[jim]

2 hours ago, Dave-R said:

No way was it the exception or it wouldn't of happened at all in the first place.

Ridiculous comment. We played some fantastic football at times under Lambert, Sherwood even Bruce. All of these performances turned out to be the exception rather than the rule.

My biggest objection of Smith is is seemingly inability to change. The system he is using clearly isn’t working with the playing staff he has available. A good manager makes the best of what he has got and adapts to suit in order to win football matches.

Smith isn’t doing that. It’s clear it’s not working and he seems incapable of changing things for the better. We have got worse and for those reasons he should be relieved of his position at the end of the season if we don’t see a marked improvement.

[TRO]

16 hours ago, villianusa said:

The start of Villa's lack of performance starts in the WBA game and it's not just the loss of Grealish, even though that is a big part. 

1. The team starts to click in the Bolton game after a number of games playing 4411 with the core of the squad playing in most of the previous games. We go on to beat Derby and Boro, with the exciting 5-5 draw with Forest. In the Albion game, we switch to a 433 and lost Grealish in the process. In the next couple of games he switches to a 4141, and consistently since then, we have played 433 for most of our games. This system does not suit the players we have.

2. Grealish was injured on the 7th of December, and Smith had 6 weeks to replace him either from within the club or getting someone in to replace him. He failed to do so.

3. Playing Hourihane in the advanced role does not work. He is much more effective come from a deeper position and it has destroyed his confidence. He is now the new scapegoat.

4. The only player within the club that was somewhat similar to Grealish is O'Hare and he sent him out on loan. He should have kept him with the squad and allowed him to grow in the number 10 role.

5. Conceding as many goals as we were made Smith work on the defensive side of things. We are playing deeper and are less creative in possession of the ball as it seems people are afraid to get forward in support. To watch us now, you would think we were still playing under Bruce. We are playing more longer passes and Tammy is isolated as many players are on the field.

6. Early on in his 20 games, he would make substitutes to help us win games, I believe after the Forest game, a lot of his substitutions are making sure we don't lose. 

7. Smith has stuck too long with a system that isn't working and he seems to stubborn to change. He was a breath of fresh air when he came to the club, now he seems to blame others for us not winning games.

I still think he can build something at the club, but he has blown a massive chance to get into the playoffs and we need to hold him accountable.

I would like to see him go back to what was working and playing the team below against Stoke.

i think we all see the games differently....for me formations change while the game is in play, so I am dubious of the relevance on its own.....what I see is a huge number of our players not competing adequately...and subsequently creating individual errors.

Ps Not 2 wingers for me either.

Edited February 20, 2019 by TRO

[Merson08]

11 minutes ago, jim said:

Ridiculous comment. We played some fantastic football at times under Lambert, Sherwood even Bruce. All of these performances turned out to be the exception rather than the rule.

My biggest objection of Smith is is seemingly inability to change. The system he is using clearly isn’t working with the playing staff he has available. A good manager makes the best of what he has got and adapts to suit in order to win football matches.

Smith isn’t doing that. It’s clear it’s not working and he seems incapable of changing things for the better. We have got worse and for those reasons he should be relieved of his position at the end of the season if we don’t see a marked improvement.

100% agree with this including the previous managers playing good football!

Football is a constant changing beast, adapt and change to the environment your surrounded by. Dean Smith plays one formation, even if it doesn't work. His subs also back this up as they are like for like swaps. 

i don't mind him staying as manager next season but he needs to be more flexible and certainly improve our team's performances. This will be the yard stick at the end of the season and not results. 

[Wainy316]

I'm happy with all his signings so far so would definitely like to see him have a go at the summer overhaul.

[New_Hope]

Haters gonna hate regardless

Edited February 20, 2019 by New_Hope

[villalad21]

What works at Brentford does not work here.

There are different levels of expectations here, finishing mid table next season and he will get sacked. He wouldn't at Brentford.

We have already seen him being affected by the pressure from the fans by having the "try not to lose" mentality in recent times.

Saw the exactly same with Lambert. In the beginning we played some exiting stuff, but we slowly went more defensive and boring.

Thinking he will do the "Brentford" on a massive scale simply won't happen. The guy is a mid table manager. Man United fans hoped the same with David Moyes. Everton on a massive scale with Man United. 

Edited February 20, 2019 by villalad21

[sne]

11 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

What works at Brentford does not work here.

There are different levels of expectations here, finishing mid table next season and he will get sacked. He wouldn't at Brentford.

We have already seen him being affected by the pressure from the fans by having the "try not to lose" mentality in recent times.

Saw the exactly same with Lambert. In the beginning we played some exiting stuff, but we slowly went more defensive and boring.

Thinking he will do the "Brentford" on a massive scale simply won't happen. The guy is a mid table manager. Man United fans hoped the same with David Moyes. Everton on a massive scale with Man United. 

Isn't the whole point of the Brentford set up that it isn't relying on a he but rather on a big organization with quite a lot of people who have individual specific roles that they do withing that system.

Smith was head coach, same as here.

He will not be the one to scout or hire players, same as at Brentford. Sure he will have input but we have other people doing those things.

Smith will be a replaceable cog in a system and not the defining hearthstone, or so I hope.

[Zatman]

32 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

What works at Brentford does not work here.

There are different levels of expectations here, finishing mid table next season and he will get sacked. He wouldn't at Brentford.

We have already seen him being affected by the pressure from the fans by having the "try not to lose" mentality in recent times.

Saw the exactly same with Lambert. In the beginning we played some exiting stuff, but we slowly went more defensive and boring.

Thinking he will do the "Brentford" on a massive scale simply won't happen. The guy is a mid table manager. Man United fans hoped the same with David Moyes. Everton on a massive scale with Man United. 

You do realise we are a midtable squad only some blinkered Villa fans cant aee this. Go back and Read some preseason predictions. 442 magazine prddicted us 11th for example 

Shocked if anybody tipped us go up

[Zatman]

On point BBC had 23 pundits and only 5 had us to finish in top 6 none promotion. with 6 morw predicting us to finish bottom half and another 2 had us in bottom 6

Edited February 20, 2019 by Zatman

[sne]

We had no defense going into the season. That will cost you quite a few points.

The squad, excluding this gargantuan hole was more than fine by Championship standards. 

But even an F1 car wont be very fast if it has a flat on the rear tires.

[MikeAVFC]

4 hours ago, flashingqwerty said:

The thing for me is that DS put a string of 5 or 6 games together where we looked like a good team.

I cant recall that many games in SBs tenure where i felt we played well. - wolves, ... Erm... Im struggling for more...

And even that Wolves game was a freak result, let's be honest. No one saw that coming after an even first half. 

[Dave-R]

4 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

Hmm Bruce pulled out some of those though. 4-1 wolves anyone? That's better than any of the results Smith has had so far. 

Yet the top scorer under Smith is beating the top scorer under Bruce, right?

Those Smith performances completely trashed any Bruce performance I think, that's results to the side. I think the most important thing to look at is that progress was made under Smith in terms of how we played as a squad together. For once we had a dominating squad, I just don't understand why it went to crap, in fact I think we've been baffled as to where it's all gone. It feels though there is something going on were not being told for a progressive build to just suddenly be dropped for the time being.

[Keyblade]

1 hour ago, sne said:

Isn't the whole point of the Brentford set up that it isn't relying on a he but rather on a big organization with quite a lot of people who have individual specific roles that they do withing that system.

Smith was head coach, same as here.

He will not be the one to scout or hire players, same as at Brentford. Sure he will have input but we have other people doing those things.

Smith will be a replaceable cog in a system and not the defining hearthstone, or so I hope.

He literally said as much. People still think the manager is the be all of the club. We've moved past that paradigm.

[TRO]

I have no idea if Dean Smith is the right manager or not.....but we have tried the changing of managers frequently and that hasn't worked.

Dean loves the club, we all know that.....what we don't know is the extent of the problems and how long it will reasonably take.

some managers, simply don't care and move on....we can't say that about Dean.

He has to be left alone to fix it.

Edited February 20, 2019 by TRO

[villianusa]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

i think we all see the games differently....for me formations change while the game is in play, so I am dubious of the relevance on its own.....what I see is a huge number of our players not competing adequately...and subsequently creating individual errors.

Appreciate the comments @TRO I have stayed away from the forums for a while as I wanted to give Smith a chance to settle in before I gave any comments. From a recent tweet of mine, it seems someone else agrees. 

HERE

 

 

Edited February 20, 2019 by villianusa

[screwdriver]

41 minutes ago, TRO said:

 we have tried the changing of managers frequently and that hasn't worked.

 

we  give managers time...too much time

look how long we gave Paul Lambert!  Remi Garde should have been put out of his misery after the valentines day massacre. Sherwood should have gone in the summer.

If things don't feel right you give them the boot. I know from personal experience this stalker ex I had asleep in my moms porch. I'd get up in the morning to get the post and the **** would be there snoring. the signs were there that there wouldn't be an impending engagement.

 

the idiot is obviously flapping he's constantly talking about Brentford and how great they were and that's our future as if that's something to aspire to.

Birmingham city used to beat us all the time in the early 2000's but we didn't turn around and go "you know what, these guys are the future... we should copy their formation, tactics and the PR strategy like where every summer they're linked with Maradonna? Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!"

 

anyway talking about your ex is the beginning of the end. look at David "when I was at Leeds" O'Leary, Martin "Cloughy used to do it like that" O'Neill and Steve "I had four promotions with other clubs" Bruce.   Also Jose "three times a lady" Mouhinio and Gerrard "I had some great times at liverpool" Houllier

[sne]

16 minutes ago, screwdriver said:

we  give managers time...too much time

look how long we gave Paul Lambert!  Remi Garde should have been put out of his misery after the valentines day massacre. Sherwood should have gone in the summer.

If things don't feel right you give them the boot. I know from personal experience this stalker ex I had asleep in my moms porch. I'd get up in the morning to get the post and the **** would be there snoring. the signs were there that there wouldn't be an impending engagement.

And Bruce?